No ambulance available after COVID-19 claimed dad: Maha man

Aurangabad, Apr 20 () For this 28-year-old who losthis father to COVID-19, the trauma continued even after thetragedy as the family searched in vain for an ambulance totake the body to the local crematorium.

The education sector professional, who was also testedpositive later but was discharged after subsequent reportscame negative, spoke to about the family's ordeal.

"My happy family lost our head all of a sudden earlierthis month. Within 48 hours of his death, three of our familymembers also tested coronavirus positive," he said.

"It was certainly a shock to us which led us to fearthis deadly pandemic. We have recovered, but in the lastfortnight, we saw this fear in the eyes of everyone who hasmet us," he said.

After returning from Mumbai, his 58-year-old father,an employee of a leading public sector bank in the financialcapital, had isolated himself in a room in the house despitenot having any symptoms associated with coronavirus,, he said.

"However, he was later admitted to a private hospitalhere to check higher sugar levels and related complications.The hospital advised us to move him to a COVID-19 designatedhospital. He was then shifted to the Government MedicalCollege Hospital," he said.

He died days later, after reports of his swab testconfirmed he was coronavirus positive.

"After my father's swab was taken, he was worried ashe could feel that there was no recovery and that would be mylast conversation with him," the man said.

"No ambulance was ready to carry my fathers body tothe crematorium. We somehow managed it and when we reached thecrematorium, we saw that the person on duty there hadn't madecomplete arrangements. He guided us in the last rites from adistance as he was too apprehensive," he said.

The man said the family then received call from healthofficials to get tested at the hospital.

"Our swabs were not taken that day and we were ignoredthe next day too. We then contacted Maharashtra HealthMinister Rajesh Tope and all of a sudden the material to takeour swabs was made available," he said.

"The day before we gave our swabs made us realise howCOVID-19 has terrified people. Neighbours closed their doorsafter seeing us and hesitated to talk to us. That day we didnot have even wheat flour to eat or water to drink," he said.

The man, his wife and his elder brother were testedcoronavirus positive in a span of 24 hours. Subsequent reportscame out negative, said the man, who along with his wife andbrother, was discharged from the hospital on Monday after themandatory 14-day quarantine.

"People have a lot of misunderstanding about thetreatment. I clear these misunderstandings as much as possiblewhen speaking to others on phone," he said. AW VTVT VT